MEDIA KIT SAINT LOUIS APRIL 13-28, 2011 2011 U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP AND 2011 U.S. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS CLUB AND SCHOLASTIC CENTER OF SAINT LOUIS HISTORY OF THE U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP No series of tournaments or matches enjoys the same rich, turbulent history as that of the United States Chess Championship. It is in many ways unique – and, up to recently, unappreciated. In Europe and elsewhere, the idea of choosing a national champion came slowly. The first Russian championship tournament, for example, was held in 1889. The Germans did not get around to naming a champion until 1879. The first official Hungarian championship occurred in 1906, and the first Dutch, three years later. But American chess fans knew as early as 1845 who their champion was: the little-known Charles Stanley – and many non-players knew it, too, because the title match of that year was well publicized. Twelve years later the industrious American organizers mounted their first tournament for a national champion. And that event, New York 1857, won by the “pride and soul of chess,” Paul Morphy, was only the fourth true chess tournament ever held in the world. In its first century and a half plus, the United States Championship has provided all kinds of entertainment. It has introduced new heroes exactly 100 years apart in Paul Morphy (1857) and Bobby Fischer (1957) and honored remarkable veterans such as Sammy Reshevsky in his late 60s. There have been stunning upsets (Arnold Denker in 1944 and John Grefe in 1973) and marvelous achievements (Fischer’s winning debut as a precocious 14-year-old in 1957, and his remarkable perfect score of 11-0 in 1964, to his record-breaking eight title wins). The championship has seen scandals and swindles, boycotts and brilliancies, bitter controversy and theoretical innovations. The games have been won and lost by geniuses and drunkards, prodigies and émigrés, college dons and coffeehouse hustlers. It has also been a truly national championship. For many years the title tournament was identified with New York. But it has also been held in towns as small as South Fallsburg, New York, Mentor, Ohio, and Greenville, Pennsylvania. Fans have witnessed championship play in Boston, and Las Vegas, Baltimore and Los Angeles, Lexington, Kentucky, and El Paso, Texas. The title has been decided in sites as varied as the Sazerac Coffee House in 1845 to the Cincinnati Literary Club, the Automobile Club of Detroit. The U.S. Championship has been held in the auditorium of a fundamentalist Christian college in Pasadena and, in 1984 the Student Union Building of the University of California at Berkeley, as well as the Seattle Center in the shadows of the Space Needle. The most recent title was decided at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, widely recognized as the premier chess club in the country if not the world. 1 2011 U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP AND 2011 U.S. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS CLUB AND SCHOLASTIC CENTER OF SAINT LOUIS HISTORY OF THE U.S. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP While chess was not immune to historic gender barriers, women players have long refused to concede the game to men. In fact, the history of chess in the U.S. dates back to the start of the 19th century for both sexes. For the first few decades, women were tacitly banned from traditional chess clubs and tournaments. So, passionate female players established their own venues, with some success. An 1897 article in The American Chess Magazine stated: “Ladies’ chess clubs are quite the fashion now.” Despite that observation, another 40 years would pass before the first U.S. Women’s Chess Championship would be held in 1937. This was 80 years after the first official U.S. men’s champion was crowned and 40 years after the first-ever international ladies tournament took place in London (where the U.S. had three representatives). The first U.S. Women’s Championship was held at the Rockefeller Center in New York City, organized by Caroline Marshall, the wife of U.S. Chess Champion Frank Marshall. Since then the event has become a tradition with its own proud history. Gisela Gresser, a 1992 Chess Hall of Fame inductee and one of the first American women to become a rated grandmaster, has captured the title an unmatched nine times. Susan Polgar, another repeat title-holder and grandmaster, crossed the boundary and became the first woman to qualify for the Men’s World Championship in 1986. Clearly women’s chess has come a long way in the United States. Indeed, 2011 undoubtedly will offer an inspiring new chapter in the history and development of women’s chess in America and around the world. 2 2011 U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP AND 2011 U.S. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS CLUB AND SCHOLASTIC CENTER OF SAINT LOUIS FACTS ABOUT THE U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS With a heritage line that includes great legends of the game, no series of tournaments or matches enjoys the same rich history as that of the U.S. Chess Championships. The first player to be termed, by popular acclaim, “U.S. Champion”, was Charles Stanley in 1845. The first unoffcial U.S. women’s champion was crowned in 1857. Though her name was never listed, a description of the chess queen secured her legacy: “This lady is believed to be the strongest amateur of her sex in the country, and would certainly be ranked as a first-rate in any club.” The first championship to name a true national champion was New York 1857, won by Paul Morphy. It was only the fourth chess championship ever held. The first published game by a U.S. woman player appeared in an eight-page brochure in 1830. The first “official” U.S. Champion was Jackson Showalter (who is also credited with the invention of the curve ball in baseball) in 1890. A Texas man in 1885 publicly offered a $100 bet that his wife could beat any man in chess. From 1905 through to 1936, the title was decided by a match between the top two players in the country; Frank Marshall holding the title throughout. Mona May Karff won seven titles, topped only by Gisela Kahn Gresser’s nine wins. The longest gap between title wins is 33 years when Sammy Revshevsky won his first title in 1936 and his last, in 1969. Irina Krush holds the record as the youngest player to win the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship. She won it in 1998 at age 14. The youngest winner of the title at 14 in 1957 was Bobby Fischer. He also holds the record for the most titles won with eight. In 1909 Eliza Foot “placed on the market a series of chess puzzles,” making her the first female U.S. chess author. The player with the best score is Bobby Fischer, who in 1964 recorded a perfect 11-0. 3 2011 U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP AND 2011 U.S. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS CLUB AND SCHOLASTIC CENTER OF SAINT LOUIS CHAMPIONS BY ACCLAMATION FROM PAST YEARS 1845-1889 Match Champions: 1889-1935 1845-1857 Charles Stanley, defeated 1889 - 1890 S. Lipschütz Eugène Rousseau in a 1890 – 1890 Jackson Showalter match in 1845 1890 - 1892 Max Judd 1857-1871 Paul Morphy, won the first American Chess 1892 - 1892 Jackson Showalter Congress in 1857 1892 - 1893 S. Lipschütz 1871-1889 George Henry Mackenzie, 1893 - 1894 Jackson Showalter won the 2nd, 3rd and 5th American Chess Congress 1894 - 1895 Albert Hodges 1895 - 1896 Jackson Showalter 1897 - 1906 Harry Nelson Pillsbury 1906 - 1909 Jackson Showalter 1909 - 1935 Frank Marshall Tournament Champions: 1936-1980 1936 Samuel Reshevsky 1962/3 Bobby Fischer 1938 Samuel Reshevsky 1963/4 Bobby Fischer 1940 Samuel Reshevsky 1965/6 Bobby Fischer 1942 Samuel Reshevsky 1966/7 Bobby Fischer 1944 Arnold Denker 1968 Larry Evans 1946 Samuel Reshevsky 1969 Samuel Reshevsky 1948 Herman Steiner 1972 Robert Byrne 1951 Larry Evans 1973 Lubomir Kavalek and John Grefe 1954 Arthur Bisguier 1974 Walter Browne 1 9 57/8 Bobby Fischer 1975 Walter Browne 1958/9 Bobby Fischer 1977 Walter Browne 1959 Bobby Fischer 1978 Lubomir Kavalek 1960/1 Bobby Fischer 1980 Walter Browne, Larry Christiansen, Larry Evans 4 2011 U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP AND 2011 U.S. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS CLUB AND SCHOLASTIC CENTER OF SAINT LOUIS CHAMPIONS BY ACCLAMATION FROM PAST YEARS continued ... Tournament Champions: 1983-2010 1983 Walter Browne, Larry Christiansen, Roman Dzindzichashvili 1984 Lev Alburt 1985 Lev Alburt 1986 Yasser Seirawan 1987 Joel Benjamin and Nick de Firmian 1988 Michael Wilder 1989 Roman Dzindzichashvili, Stuart Rachels, Yasser Seirawan 1990 Lev Alburt 1991 Gata Kamsky 1992 Patrick Wolff 1993 Alexander Shabalov and Alex Yermolinsky 1994 Boris Gulko 1995 Nick de Firmian, Patrick Wolff, Alexander Ivanov 1996 Alex Yermolinsky 1997 Joel Benjamin 1998 Nick de Firmian 1999 Boris Gulko 2000 Joel Benjamin, Alexander Shabalov, Yasser Seirawan 2002 Larry Christiansen 2003 Alexander Shabalov 2005 Hikaru Nakamura 2006 Alexander Onischuk 2007 Alexander Shabalov 2008 Yury Shulman 2009 Hikaru Nakamura 2010 Gata Kamsky 5 2011 U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP AND 2011 U.S. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS CLUB AND SCHOLASTIC CENTER OF SAINT LOUIS WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS BY ACCLAMATION FROM PAST YEARS Tournament Champions: 1937-1989 Tournament Champions: 1990-2010 1937 Adele Rivero 1990 Elena Donaldson 1938 Mona May Karff 1991 Esther Epstein, Irina Levitina 1940 Adele Rivero 1992 Irina Levitina 1941 Mona May Karff 1993 Elena Donaldson, 1942 Mona May Karff Irina Levitina 1944 Gisela Kahn Gresser, 1994 Elena Donaldson 1946 Mona May Karff 1995 Anjelina Belakovskaia, 1948 Gisela Kahn Gresser, Sharon Burtman Mona May Karff 1996 Anjelina Belakovskaia 1951 Mary Bain 1997 Esther Epstein 1953 Mona May Karff 1998 Irina Krush 1955 Gisela Kahn Gresser, 1999 Anjelina Belakovskaia Nancy Roos 2000 Elina Groberman, 1957 Gisela Kahn Gresser, Camilla Baginskaite Sonja Graf 2001 Jennifer Shahade 1959 Lisa Lane 2002 Jennifer Shahade 1962 Gisela Kahn Gresser 2003 Anna Hahn 1964 Sonja Graf 2004 Jennifer Shahade 1965 Gisela Kahn Gresser 2005 Rusa Goletiani 1966 Gisela Kahn Gresser, Lisa Lane 2006 Anna Zatonskih 1967 Gisela Kahn Gresser 2007 Irina Krush 1969 Gisela Kahn Gresser 2008 Anna Zatonskih 1972 Eva Aronson, 2009 Anna Zatonskih Marilyn Koput 2010 Irina Krush 1974 Mona May Karff 1975 Diane Savereide 1976 Diane Savereide 1978 Diane Savereide, Rachel Crotto 1979 Rachel Crotto 1981 Diane Savereide 1984 Diane Savereide 1986 Inna Izrailov 1987 Anna Akhsharumova 6 1989 Alexey Root 2011 U.S.